Learn about modern-day gold mining from Rick Ness and Tony Beets, two of the stars of Discovery’s #1 TV show, “Gold Rush.” In that vein, Curiosity Daily hosts Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer explain sluice boxes, resistivity surveys, and other gold mining techniques. They also discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about why you stop liking new music as you get older: https://curiosity.im/33G3ixC Please support this episode’s sponsor! Get your first month of KiwiCo FREE by visiting https://www.kiwico.com/curiosity More from Discovery’s #1 show, Gold Rush: Gold Rush official website — https://www.discovery.com/shows/gold-rush DiscoveryGO — https://go.discovery.com/watch/discovery @GoldRushTV on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/GoldRushTV/ Gold Rush on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/GoldRush/ Follow @Gold_Rush on Twitter — https://twitter.com/Gold_Rush Follow @GoldrushRick on Twitter — https://twitter.com/GoldrushRick Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about modern-day gold mining from Rick Ness and Tony Beets, two of the stars of Discovery’s #1 TV show, “Gold Rush.” In that vein, Curiosity Daily hosts Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer explain sluice boxes, resistivity surveys, and other gold mining techniques. They also discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about why you stop liking new music as you get older: https://curiosity.im/33G3ixC
Please support this episode’s sponsor! Get your first month of KiwiCo FREE by visiting https://www.kiwico.com/curiosity
More from Discovery’s #1 show, Gold Rush:
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/gold-mining-w-gold-rush-stars-rick-ness-and-tony-beets-and-why-musical-tastes-change
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about why you stop liking new music as you get older. Then, you’ll learn about gold mining in the 21st century, with special guests Rick Ness and Tony Beets — two of the stars of Discovery’s number-one TV show, “Gold Rush.”
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Why Do You Stop Liking New Music as You Get Older? — https://curiosity.im/33G3ixC (Ashley)
If you’ve ever heard an older adult say something along the lines of “they just don’t make good music like they used to,” then there’s a reason for that. Psychology shows there actually is a reason you stop liking new music as you get older. So no, there’s nothing wrong with your parents just because they don’t like your music. Research shows that musical tastes start to crystalize when you’re around 13 or 14. By the time you hit your early 20s, those tastes get locked into place pretty firmly. And by the time we turn 33, most of us have stopped listening to new music. At the same time, popular songs that came out when you were in your early teens will probably stay popular with people around your age for the rest of your life. There could be a biological reason for all this. There’s evidence that as you get older, your brain has a harder time making subtle distinctions between different chords, rhythms, and melodies. That’s why for some older adults, songs that are new and less familiar “all sound the same,” as they say. Another reason why you don’t like all those new-fangled tunes the kids are into is called the mere exposure effect. We’ve talked about that on this show before, but it basically means the more we’re exposed to something, the more we tend to like it. A lot of teenagers spend a fair amount of time listening to music or watching music videos — and yes, music videos are still a thing, even if you are probably more like to see them on YouTube than you are on MTV. And the more you listen, the more familiar and comforting those sounds become. On the flip side, you probably have more responsibilities when you’re in your 30s, which means less time to spend finding new music — and more time falling back on your tried-and-true favorites. And one more thing: psychology research has shown that the emotions we felt when we were teenagers seem more intense than the ones that come later. Since intense emotions are associated with stronger memories and preferences, it’s no wonder why the songs we listened to when we were young are so near and dear to our hearts. The takeaway is that you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself if you feel like you’re screaming for kids to get off your lawn because you’re not hip to the latest beats out there. Nobody said there was anything wrong with listening to oldies, anyway. [ad lib]
[KIWICO]
CODY: Today’s episode is sponsored by KiwiCo. KiwiCo is a super-fun subscription box that your kids will LOVE. Seriously — if my friends’ kids are any indication, you can pretty much think of KiwiCo as a birthday or Christmas present your kids will be able to look forward to every month. They were so excited to put together their KiwiCo projects, I was straight-up jealous. Of a 6 and 7 year old!
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CODY: Every day counts when it comes to making a difference so don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity! Again, go to kiwico.com slash CURIOSITY and get YOUR FIRST MONTH FREE.
ASHLEY: That’s kiwico.com/CURIOSITY.
Gold Rush Interview - How much gold is out there and how do we find it [1:18] (Cody)
When you think about mining for gold, you probably think of the California gold rush. Or the Yukon gold rush. Or any of lots of other gold rushes that took place in North America and other places in the world in the mid-to-late 19th century. There’s still gold out there, though, and that means there are still miners that’re looking for it. In fact, that’s the whole premise behind the Discovery Channel’s number-one TV show, “Gold Rush.” If you haven’t seen the show, it follows 3 mining teams in the Yukon who search for gold and hopefully make millions in the process. And we had the chance to talk to two of the show’s stars, miners Rick Ness and Tony Beets, about how much gold is out there and how they hope to find it. We had to ask: didn’t the gold rush die down after the 1800s because we, you know… found most of it? Here’s Rick and Tony.
[CLIP 0:34]
[INSERT IN-LINE / NO SWOOSH] So how has gold mining technology changed since those early days of the California gold rush?
[CLIP 0:21]
CODY: A sluice, or sluice “box,” is basically a narrow tray that’s about a meter long and is open at both ends. If you put one in a stream of water, the water passes right through. But the sluices have rows of riffles, which are tiny obstructions that are positioned in a way so they catch the heaviest materials that pass through them — in this case, gold. That gold gets trapped at the bottom of the sluice, and you’ve got your gold, easy as that! If you’ve ever gone panning for gold, you’ve used a sluice box. Hard to believe we’ve been using sluices for more than a hundred years now! [SWOOSH]
[INSERT IN-LINE / NO SWOOSH] What’s the latest technology that’s really changed the game for gold miners?
[CLIP 0:21]
CODY: Rick is talking about resistivity surveys, which miners have started to use in the last couple decades in lots of places around the world, including Malaysia, Nigeria, and the Korean peninsula. It basically works like this: different materials (like gold) have different levels of electricial resistance. If you run a curent through those materials, you can figure out what they are by measuring the voltage and the current applied to calculate their electrical resistance. So if you drive a series of electrodes into the ground, you can essentially form an electrical circuit through the ground that you can then measure to figure out the resistivity of the rocks under the surface. Geologists can run a resistivity survey to find sulphide deposits and graphite zones, which both conduct electricity. And they can also use the surveys in places with a lot of quartz. That’s because quartz has a high resistivity compared to other minerals, so places that are rich in quartz that might host gold show up as zones of high resistivity (or, low conductivity). Who knew? Any way, if you suddenly have gold fever as much as we do, then be sure to check out Discovery’s number-one rated show Gold Rush. It’s back for its 10th season, with new episodes Fridays at 9pm Eastern. You can also watch Gold Rush here in the U.S. on DiscoveryGO, which you can find a link to in today’s show notes.
ASHLEY: And now, let’s recap what we learned today.
CODY: Today we learned that it’s normal to stop liking music as we get older, for lots of psychological reasons.
ASHLEY: And that geologists and gold miners can figure out what’s underground by running an elecrical current into the ground.
CODY: And that we don’t know how much gold is still out there, which is why miners are still looking for it.
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s first story was written by Frank T. McAndrew from The Conversation. Script editing and fact checking, by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity.com.
ASHLEY: Today’s podcast was scripted, produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!